Citizens United
to Find Fugitivesis
a 501 (c)(3) non-profit corporation that works to obtain
justice for fraud victims and helps track
fugitives so they can be located by the police
and arrested. CUFFis supported by donations
and when we take a case, all our
services are free.

If
you have been a victim of fraud, don't let the
criminal get away just because it is difficult
to go after them. Join the CUFF Fraud Fighters
Force and we will work with you to use the laws
that will eventually force the person to pay -
criminally, financially or both. Here is how you can
turn the tables on the con artist and help
yourself in the process.

Prosecute:File
a police report and make an effort to convince the
police and prosecutor to charge the con artist. It
is probable that the person has conned others in the
past and has a criminal record, outstanding warrants
and/or civil judgments. Too many victims let this
chance slip by just because it requires time and effort.
Follow the steps in the CUFF
Police Fraud Report in
order to be thorough.

Unfortunately, it is not
just individual citizens who don't prosecute or sue after they have been conned. Many large companies
will just "write it off" because they don't
believe the dollar amount is worth the effort. One
victim was told by a bank that had been conned out of
$10,000 by a con artist that "it just wasn't enough
money" to prosecute. The lessons
learned and the confidence gained by the con artist from
this scam may be used to con someone else who might
consider $10,000 to be a lot of money, possibly their
entire savings.

Sue
in Small Claims Court: If the prosecutor
won't charge the criminal, sue the person in small
claims court where you won't need an attorney. You
can use the powers of subpoena to find
their assets or to find them. When you obtain your judgment,
put it on their credit
report to forewarn others about their scams while you
are searching for their assets.

You
may ask why would you want to
sue someone who probably has no money, someone who has
probably already spent whatever he or she stole from
you? You sue them because they must realize that
there are consequences for their
criminal acts, even if the prosecutor cannot or will not
impose them. And because someday the con artist
may actually get a job or inherit money from
relatives. If you don't have a judgment, you will
never get anything, nor will you get anything if you
wait until the time limit expires on your state's
statute of limitations (usually two to three
years). But once you obtain a judgment, interest will continue
to accrue annually. You can even go against the
person's estate after they die.

If a prosecutor chooses
not to charge someone with fraud, even though it is
clear that property or money was stolen, it is most
likely because the victim had a personal relationship
with the con artist. The prosecutor will tell
these employers, girlfriends, boyfriends, business
associates that the issue is civil, not criminal,
because that is the way the system works today.
These "financial crimes" are rarely prosecuted
in today's criminal justice system.

In fact, it is quite
possible for a con artist to set up a victim by
entering into a partnership agreement, opening a
joint checking account, buying a vehicle on a
term agreement or just becoming a very close
friend, then disappearing with property and money
belonging to the victim - and NEVER BE
PROSECUTED. So, until this
changes, it is up to the victim to force the criminal to
pay the consequences.

But you can do this without a great deal of effort or
cost. Go to our Get
Even Legally
Page to find out
how to sue in small claims court even if you don't know
the whereabouts of the thief. You can obtain a
civil judgment against the person that will allow you to
subpoena information such as cell phone bills, bank
statements, vehicle ownership, etc. in order to find
assets. If there are no current assets, you will still
have a judgment that can be placed on the person's
credit report in order to forewarn other potential
creditors about the person. It can also be filed
with the county recorder where it will be discovered in
a title search if the person attempts to buy property in
that county. And there is always the
possibility that someday you will collect
your money plus all the interest and courts
costs.

Put
the Subject in the STRAIGHT SHOOTER Database:

(1)
If
you are successful in prosecuting a con
artist and they abscond, put them in the database under the
criminal category. Go to the Submit
A Fugitive
Pageand
complete the form. We will verify the data with
the agency in charge. If the con artist has
a criminal history, enter that in the database, too.
If you are not sure, we can help you find out. How We Can Help

(2)
When you
obtain your civil judgment against the con artist, put
the judgment information in the database under the
category of Civil Judgment. When you are contacted about
the person by a database searcher, you can detail the
circumstances of the fraud. You will be protecting
someone else and more than likely foiling a potential
scam by the con artist. Also, you may obtain
information on the defendant's current
whereabouts which will enable you to begin the
collection process for your debt.
Additionally, the current victim may have
information which, when combined with yours,
will convince a prosecutor to charge the con
artist with fraud.
Legislation:Write
your congressman and state representative and ask them
to introduce laws that will facilitate finding
fugitives. (View laws.)

Help
Other Victims:
If you have been through an experience with a con
artist, can you offer advice or emotional support to
other fraud victims? Not only would you be helping
another victim, but you may contribute significantly to
the apprehension of a criminal. Send us an e-mail
or complete the Fraud Fighters
Registry
and add your name to our
Fraud Fighters Force. If
you do not wish to use your real name, use a code name
instead. Join
CUFF
to become part of the national anti-fraud
movement.

Donate:
We are supported by the tax-deductible donations from people we have
helped or people who appreciate what we are
doing. Donate
to CUFF

Tell Your Local Police
about CUFF:
Ask them
to put their fugitives in the CUFF database
and put a STRAIGHT SHOOTER.NET link on their Web site.
Tell your police department that you want a complete
fugitive list published in the newspaper and/or on their
police Web site. If they refuse, ask them how
they expect the public to provide tips if they won't
tell the public who they are looking for. Tell them
there are numerous jurisdictions that already do
this and are benefiting from the public's
help. If they need proof, they can go to
our Law
Enforcement's
Most Wanted page
and review the law enforcement Web sites.

Contact CUFF through the STRAIGHT SHOOTER Web
site: If you have been the victim of fraud and everything
seems to be going in favor of the thief, detail the circumstances in a CUFF Fraud
Report. We
will provide a Background Search for a $59.00
tax-deductible fee. The purpose of this
background search is to uncover any information
in the person's past that might be used to help
you convince the police to prosecute for
fraud. It might also produce information
that will help you locate assets for a civil
suit. It is crucial that both you and we
understand who and what we are dealing with in
order to know how to proceed.

We
can also give you advice based on the experiences of
our members and, if you need emotional support, a CUFF
member will be glad to contact you. If you
are the victim of a fugitive with a warrant, we
will help you find the person for free and we
will publish the person's record in the CUFF
Fugitive Database.
If you already know the person has an
outstanding warrant
or a criminal history, you can Submit
a Fugitive to the CUFF Database
for free. If the person does not have a
warrant or civil judgment recorded against them,
you can still submit the person to
CUFF's
Internet Swindlers Database.
This is a proprietary database that matches
names and MO's against others in the database in
order to help law enforcement.

Take The
Fraud Victim's Journey to Justice
to learn how you may obtain justice by following
in the footsteps of other fraud victims who used
the system to achieve justice. You can select
the scam that harmed you in order to know which
direction to head to find justice.